I'm sure there is an electrical engineer or serious hobbyist who knows way more about this stuff than I do. Here's the situation. Our composting toilet is wider than I'd like. I've done a cut out on the wheel well to accommodate the manual "flapper" that seals the bowl from the composting compartment. There's also a lower handle for turning the compost located in a really lousy location... but fortunately, the handle comes right off and the rod has a threaded end. This would be perfect for a small pulley. So, thinking out loud I said, "Hey, if I could find a low rpm, high torque motor to turn a large pulley, I could probably get the right gearing to turn the compost without the handle."

The pulley would fit flush while the handle (and the human arm required to turn it) take up far more room. Besides, the compost is much more likely to get turned via a switch than by hand.

So, if someone has a decent idea of a motor I could use to experiment, I'm open to suggestions.

I don't have any specific recommendations, but you're in luck. What you really need is high torque, hp doesn't matter much for this application, and most electric motors make their max torque at 0 RPM.

I wish I knew how to set up the pulleys without creating so much pressure that it will "egg" the opening for the crank. Nice thought on the motor. I'm thinking the key is lots of torque but a very slow turn.

I wish I knew how to set up the pulleys without creating so much pressure that it will "egg" the opening for the crank. Nice thought on the motor. I'm thinking the key is lots of torque but a very slow turn.

do you have enough room to put a double pulley on the crank and a tensioned idler pulley in the opposite direction?

This motor is battery powered... you could either continue to use that (it claims 90 hours of use from a pair of D-cells) or you could convert it for 12V use. Should be high-torque, low-RPM and it would probably be easy to make a shaft adapter.

i think he wants to limit the power so that if the auger binds, it doesn't break it. i guess you could put a clutch setup in it such as used in a drill. come to think of it, a drill might be the total solution.